campbell county chamber of commerce

The 64th Legislature concluded the 2018 Legislative Budget Session on March 15. Starting the session with a slate of 330 House and Senate bills, by its conclusion, 150 had met their fate, and 136 have been signed into law by Governor Mead.

While the final budget was very close to the respective versions submitted by the House and Senate in terms of spending levels, they differed substantially on funding methodologies. Remaining divided on their respective philosophies on funding methodologies, the two sides settled on a budget bill deal that would allow both approaches as a trial measure, each for one year during the two-year biennium. The Legislature will adopt the House’s plan for FY 2019, and the following year it will then be the Senate’s turn. The two sides passed the general government appropriations budget on Saturday morning, March 10, but went late into the evening debating K-12 spending reductions and state capital construction projects.

The Legislative Policy Committee (PC) held its final meeting on Monday, February 26th, to review and discuss the 37 proposed bills on the WTA Budget Session Tracking Sheet accompanying this report. Below is a quick review of the major bills that WTA was following.

The main budget bill, which funds most state agencies, was passed by roughly two-thirds of lawmakers in the House and Senate after reaching a deal to remove both construction and education cuts from the budget. The idea was that those two topics would then be addressed in separate pieces of legislation. The extension is in order to address the remaining education and construction bills.

The House will reconvene at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Senate on Thursday, meaning the Chamber has had to push their March 13 Legislative Wrap-Up breakfast to March 22.

In interim between now and the next general session in 2019, legislative committees will meet at least three times. The Wyoming State Chamber of Commerce will be tracking committee topic assignments. For now, they've issued their final report on the session:

On January 30, our local legislators met with the public and Chamber members at the Campbell County Senior Center for the Chamber's annual Eggs & Issues breakfast. Each representative was given two minutes to respond to questions from the floor, as well as a minute and a half at the beginning of the panel to discuss their upcoming bills or concerns for 2018.

In attendance were Senators Michael Von Flatern and Jeff Wasserburger, and Representatives Eric Barlow, Bill Pownall, Roy Edwards, Tim Hallinan, and Scott Clem. To open, Senator Von Flatern talked about SF0040 Commercial Air Service, which establishes a council to get proposals from airline contractors to increase air service in Wyoming.

"We'll take all the money in [airfare and luggage fees], then pay the bill at the end of the month. The state will make up the difference if there's a deficit."

Senator Jeff Wasserburger, a former principal of Twin Spruce Junior High, is involved with two bills, HB32 Major Maintenance Formula and HB 33 School finance-capital construction amendments, both of which amends Wyoming Statute 21-15-109 to include specific references to updating or maintaining Wyoming public schools, and giving the Legislature the opportunity to overrule how school districts spend funds granted to them for construction.

Senator Wasserburger took his turn on the floor to discuss how he doesn't think this budget session will see many tax bills head to a vote, as each bill has to have a 2/3rds vote of introduction just to make it to the floor.

Representative Barlow talked about his bill, HB0018 Nonresident employer bonding. If passed, it would prevent out of state companies from not paying wages, unemployment, or meeting OSHA requirements. A bond would hold them to the same standard as Wyoming employers.

Representative Pownall is on the Judiciary Committee, which oversees roughly a third of the bills introducted to the legislature, to make certain it's fit legally to be discussed on the floor. The Judiciary committee meets at least twice daily during session to revue legislation. In his opening remarks, Representative Pownall talked about HB0012 Speeding fines amendments. The proposed bill is designed to simplify speeding fines, reducing some fines as a result. If passed, it would take 11 speeding categories down to 3.

Representatives Edwards and Hallinan repeatedly expressed their opposition to any tax increase bill, Mr. Edwards even joked that he was removed from the Revenue Committee because he won't vote for tax increases.

Representative Clem discussed education funding, and how the student to teacher ratio is just a formula for funding, not a rule that school districts have to abide by for their class sizes. He added that amending state curriculum to include computer science will just make education costs go up. Senator Wasserburger also stated that this session will be most unsettled when it comes to education. Representative Barlow said the dollar amount for education gets all the attention, but the "real fight" will be over the formula to figure out funding for each district.

The Legislature is now in its fifth week of the eight-week session. Crossover has occurred, which means House bills have moved to the Senate and conversely, Senate bills have moved to the House. The bills go through the same vigorous process in each house, including a Committee hearing and three readings on the floor. The process offers opportunities for engagement and providing input to legislators in advance of a bill becoming law. You will see from the report below that many measures have failed and those are listed with a red background, enabling you to easily see which measures are still advancing through the process.

Members who use automatic renewal of contractsshould review HB227 to determine what changes they may need to take on renewal processes. The bill is intended to protect consumers from automatic renewals that the consumer would prefer to cancel. If there are issues of concern or potential unintended consequences with this bill, businesses need to weigh in.

The ENDOW(economic needed diversity options for Wyoming) initiative, SF132, highlighted by the Governor in his state-of-the-state address, has passed the Senate and is moving to the House. The initiative establishes an economic diversification council to oversee and promote economic diversification activities in the state. The council will be tasked with evaluating investments necessary to support new and emerging industries, knowledge transfer, infrastructure, cooperation between the public sector and private enterprise, and the relationship between tax burden and economic diversification.

Makeup of the council will include 15 voting members, appointed by the Governor with approval from the Senate; in appointing members, efforts will be made to include diverse backgrounds of appointees, including existing, new and emerging economic sectors. The Chairmen of the Senate and House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committees will serve as ex-officio members, meaning Senator Michael Von Flatern will be involved in the initiative. The council will be supported by the Wyoming Business Council, Community College Commission, University of Wyoming and Department of Workforce Services. An initial report will be due to the Governor and Legislature by December 31, 2017. Read more about the bill here. You can listen to the debate here.The Governor’s office is asking for input on the ENDOW initiative. A survey is available at the following link: ENDOW SURVEY

The House passed an Omnibus Education Bill(HB236) yesterday on a 43-16-1 vote. The measure includes reductions in education spending as well as a one-half cent sales tax increase that would take effect when the Legislative Stabilization and Reserve Account (LSRA) also known as the budget reserve account falls below $500 million. The tax discussion was robust on both sides of the issue and centered on use of the remaining LSRA versus proposed tax increases. Those supporting the tax increase debated the fact the LSRA is needed not just for education, but for local government funding and other state needs and the measure is a pro-active approach to stemming the shortfall in education funding. Those arguing against the increase felt the tax is not yet justified since the funding shortfall is already covered for this year; in essence, they felt the tax wouldn't take effect for about five years and felt the measure is premature. Reliance on Wyoming's mineral industry was referred to several times during the debate with some asserting that the minerals industry is making a rebound and the economy is improving and others arguing that the State must change their over-reliance on minerals and energy. The fiscal impact of the HB236 can be reviewed here.

Check the bill list below for updates on additional legislation moving through the process. As you review the bill list below, those bills that have died are indicated with a red background. Only this bills with a dark background are still active.

Disclaimer: Information was pulled on 2/10/16 at 4:25 p.m. Information on all bills is available from the Legislative Website.

Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Charlene Murdock will be monitoring legislation and engaging as needed to serve as the “Voice of Business” for Campbell County. If you have questions or concerns on any bill, email CharleneM@GilletteChamber.com.

As the Legislature moves towards the midway point during the eight-week session, a number of deadlines have hit or are looming. Both the House and Senate have hit the point where bill submittal is closed. Nearly 500 bills and resolutions have hit the bill registry; a few more might be added to the list this week, but with the cutoff for consideration in the Committee in the house of origin slated for this Thursday, February 2, bills filed this late in the process are often doomed simply because time runs out.

The House has filed 293 bills and 11 resolutions

The Senate has filed 172 bills and 9 resolutions

To put the work of the Legislature into perspective, especially as it relates to business regulation, a count of bills on specific issues that impact business includes the following:

Tax bills – 34

Professions & Occupations – 14 bills

Alcoholic Beverages / Licensing & Permits – 12 bills

Banking – 2 bills

Economic Development – 3 bills

Labor & Employment – 12 bills

Public Utilities – 6 bills

Trade & Commerce – 3 bills

(note: this count comes from the official subject cross index for bills)Here are a few issues of interest:

HB 135 – Government non-discrimination act attempts to provide the rights of a business to refuse service to clients based on religious beliefs, but which opens the door for discrimination in a variety of ways. This bill has been withdrawn by the sponsor and will not be heard.

HB 169 – Prohibited firearms-business and commercial establishments establishes liability for a business that prevents the legal carrying of firearms on the business premises in the instance someone is injured as a result of not being allowed to carry their firearm into the business to protect themselves. This bill is unlikely to be heard this session.

HB 227 - Automatic Renewal of Consumer Contracts is an effort to eliminate deceptive trade, this bill requires notice and disclosure of automatic renewal provisions in consumer contracts. The bill is an example of creating regulation to penalize poor performers while creating a framework of compliance that might be cumbersome to all businesses. The bill is being heard by the Corporations Committee.

HB 243 - School Finance – Capital Construction Funding was essentially a sales tax on all services provided in the state, to include any service in which a fee, retainer, commission or other sales price is charged and which involves predominately the performance of a service other than the selling of tangible property. This bill was misleading based on the title and had a broad-based impact, including all businesses that provide a service including, health care providers, veterinarians, consultants, professionals, personal services, amusement and recreation, legal services, realtors, engineering, and communications. A similar bill died in the interim and this bill died on a 0-9 vote, with the bill sponsor amongst those voting no.

SF 100 – Limited Liability Companies raises the annual filing fee for LLC’s registered in the state by 200%. The minimum fee is increased from $50 to $150 with a scale for larger businesses. The bill passed the Senate and is waiting for action in the House.

Tax Studies relative to revenues and efficiencies - there are three bills encouraging comprehensive review of the state’s revenues and expenditures to seek out efficiencies to best utilize the tax dollars available, and to make recommendations on changes to the tax structure to avoid the highs and lows of dependence on mineral revenues.

Other observations:On a visit to the Legislature last week, I observed significant pressure on both bodies to try and resolve the looming shortfall in K-12 education funding and school capital construction. The scope of handling 34 tax bills is a significant undertaking and a variety of measures are being evaluated. The House and the Senate are working to find a balance of reductions in spending and tax measures that are fair and reasonable. Of course, there are not many who support any tax increases, pointing to the fact that the State has money in their rainy day fund and should look first towards reductions in spending.

As mentioned last week, there are several measures to change the allocation on the lodging tax, essentially striping the requirement to use the funds for tourism promotion. Alternate uses include Game & Fish, air service, and infrastructure. This issue is of concern to the Chamber; considering our active role in helping get the tax approved by voters, future voters may not support renewal of a tax that is not used for promoting the region.

In an effort to stay focused on the most important issues, leadership has indicated they will not consider controversial bills related to discrimination, guns, etc. This is helpful considering these items tend to polarize the legislature, creating division rather than collaboration. Further, these issues have the potential to drive headlines that are detrimental to the state’s tourism industry, an important sector that contributes significantly to the state’s tax base.

Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Charlene Murdock will be monitoring legislation and engaging as needed to serve as the “Voice of Business” for Campbell County. If you have questions or concerns on any bill, email CharleneM@GilletteChamber.com.

The Wyoming Legislature is in full swing, having concluded two weeks of work on the state's business. At this time just over 350 bills and resolutions have been filed for consideration.

House: 216 bills and 7 resolutions

Senate: 133 bills and 7 resolutions

The legislative process moves at a fast pace in Wyoming and the cut-off for new legislation is fast approaching. Senate members must have any new bills to the Legislative Service office this coming Wednesday, January 25; House members have until Monday, January 30. For a bill to proceed in this year’s session, the proposal must be introduced and considered in Committee by Thursday, February 2.

There are a number of issues we are following, as outlined in the bill tracking report below. A few measures that are worthy of mentioning:

HB19 – Sales from Remote Sellers is a measure that would require out of state, online sellers, selling into Wyoming with more than $100,000 annually in sales or 200 transactions, to collect and remit Wyoming sales taxes. This follows a recent announcement that Amazon will voluntarily collect sales tax on purchases made from Wyoming residents, an effort that is rumored to net $6 million for Wyoming – good news for local merchants and for the State.

HB140 - Minimum Wage would raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour and tipped wages to $5.50 an hour. This bill is not expected to gain traction.

HB80 – Transportation Network Companies – also known as the Uber bill, would create a mechanism for ride-sharing networks.

HB82 – Local Option Sales and Use Taxes would allow local option taxes, like Penny Power, to be voted on for increase mid-cycle without the threat of losing the existing percentage on the mid-cycle vote.

Revisions to lodging tax – there are several proposals to change the way lodging tax collections are utilized. We will monitor and coordinate with the Campbell County Lodging Board to weigh in as needed.

Tax issues that create unfair and unbalanced taxation scenarios. As history repeats itself and the state faces another funding crisis, it is expected that measures will arise to put more burden on the energy industry. Such a move is detrimental to our local economy as additional burden for the energy industry comes at a time when our energy markets have not rebounded. Any approach to taxation should be fairly assessed across industries and citizens alike. While none of us wants to pay more tax, if increases are demed necessary, we must all be accountable for the government services provided in Wyoming and energy-based regions should not be compelled to pay more than others.

Other issues of interest:

Funding for K-12 education – the state’s School Foundation Program is only able to fund K-12 education through this biennium, but not beyond. The funding shortfall is expected to be $1.5 billion over the next 6 years, not accounting for school capital construction and improvements to facilities. A white paper on the issue is available here. Legislators indicate the issue is too large to address with spending cuts and too large too address with tax increases - a combination of cuts and tax increases is expected The Chamber is providing comments on the white paper – our primary concern is the proposed used of mill levies to lessen the shortfall. Mill levies fall disproportionately on the minerals sector, which has the potential to impact the Campbell County economy.

Governor’s State of the State Address:

The Honorable Governor Matthew H. Mead addressed the Wyoming Legislature on January 11, 2017, to kick off the 64th legislative session. His address conveyed a tone of optimism for how well the state has managed so far during the economic downturn, along with prompting for the Legislature to address budget shortfalls in a prudent and responsible fashion and to maintain an attitude of progressive investment in economic diversification measures.

The Governor reported that the State of Wyoming, although facing challenging times of lower revenues, remains strong. The state has $1.59 billion in the Legislative Stabilization and Reserve Account (LSRA), the state’s rainy day fund; and another $7.4 billion in the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, an in volatile fund that generates considerable income to the state via interest.

You can find a synopsis of the Governor’s State of the State Address here.

Listen to the State of the State audio here:Link to a written copy of the State of the State address here:

Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Charlene Murdock will be monitoring legislation and engaging as needed to serve as the “Voice of Business” for Campbell County. If you have questions or concerns on any bill, email CharleneM@GilletteChamber.com.